For years bakers have utilized available kitchen wares to bake edible goods into various shapes and sizes. Ranging from the haughty angle food gateaux to Proust's comforting Madelaines, the shape of the resulting baked product is primarily determined by the configuration of the baking receptacle into which the un-cooked dough is placed. Thus, bakers have long experimented with bakeware of varying geometric shapes and sizes. One result of the experimentation has been the creation of a baked product formed in the shape of a hollow cup.
Surrounded by a circular outer wall of dough and supported by a dough base, the central cavity of the cup may be filled with numerous types of food fillers, such as pastry creams and ice creams, syrups and sauces, creating innumerable variations on a dessert filling theme. Similarly, nutritious entrees, such as those using meats and vegetables are also possible, using, for example, a cornbread dough. In any case, the culinary result of an outer, edible baked dough shell with an inner filling is functional, aesthetically pleasing, and provides an altogether different culinary experience to the palate.
The conventional device for creating a molded comestible is a bakeware system of lower and upper trays, in which each tray is configured to form one or more hollowed interior baking chambers when the trays are assembled in a nested relationship. The lower tray is generally configured with a series of receptacles, much like the conventional cupcake baking tray so familiar to homemakers. The upper tray is similarly configured with a series of corresponding cup-like depressions of smaller diameter than the receptacles of the lower tray. Mating the lower and upper baking sheets creates baking chambers that are defined by the bottom, outside surfaces of the upper tray depressions and by the upper, inside surfaces of the lower tray receptacles. Prior to assembly, a leavened baking mix of choice is placed in each of the receptacles of the lower tray. After the upper tray is mated to and assembled therewith, the combined trays are placed in an oven for baking. The heat causes the leavened mix to rise and assume the shape of the baking chamber. The result is a molded comestible that is available to be filled as discussed above.
A recurring difficulty in this field has been the difficulty in creating a baked, cup-shaped comestible that remains palatably pleasing throughout and yet is structurally capable of holding liquid-based fillers. Predictably, after the passage of a short period of time the liquid filler would become absorbed into the sides and bottom of the baked comestible cup, thereby weakening its structural integrity. Often the cup would collapse, ruining its aesthetic appearance as well as its functional effectiveness.
Previous attempts to generate cup-shaped food products capable of satisfactory periods of shelf time while filled with foods of liquid consistencies have met with only limited success. It remains desirable to delay the final assembly of placing the fillings in the baked cup until just prior to serving. Of course, if not filled, the baked cups have a tendency to become stale as well as damaged in transit and storage.
It would be desirable to be able to bake the cups on site, just prior to assembly. However, to date the bakeware required to make the baked cup products have been made of metal and their utility is of limited value in this day and age of microwave convenience. In addition, although many of the present baking devices consist of dual trays locked to one-another transversely, most are not similarly secured in a perpendicular direction. Consequently, as the leavened mix rises during baking, the trays are forced apart. Such separation effectively enlarges the baking chamber, and results in undesired bulges in the final baked product. Even for such bakeware as provides effective locking in both transverse and perpendicular directions, the locking mechanism is often cumbersome to operate, consisting of discrete components that must be assembled and attached to the baking pan before use.
To date, others have been unable to develop a lockable, two-piece baking apparatus suitable for microwave use that is also effective in producing comestibles capable of retaining a well defined cup-shape while filled with liquid based fillers. It would therefore be a novel improvement to bake comestible cups by providing a bakeware suitable for both conventional oven and microwave use. Such baking apparatus would be useful both to the large-scale bakers and their commercial ovens, as well as to enable on-site baking by fast food operations using their microwave ovens. This latter group would thus be positioned to offer comestible cups produced on-premises. Such freshly produced cake products will naturally retain their shape for a longer period of time than is the case for pre-filled cups--fresh or frozen. In addition it would be a novel improvement to design a two-piece baking apparatus that may be locked together in orthogonal directions, both transversely and perpendicularly, to prevent separation and ensure a well-defined cup shape during the baking process, and wherein the locking mechanism is integral with the trays and permits the quick and easy assembly and disassembly of the two-piece bakeware.